I wrote this poem about six months ago after I had been talking on the phone with a dear friend. I was trying to encourage her that she didn’t need to change who she was to be accepted by someone who refused to notice.

I thought to myself about how often I have done this in my life. In the past, I had tried to make myself be more outgoing, more sexy, more serious, or more silly, and the list goes on and on. I realized that I had done this to fit into someone else’s ideal of who I should be. Often times I find that we are so busy as women trying to figure out whom we should be instead of just being who we really are. This is a message that gets trickled down to the next generation. We need to stop setting these absurd, imaginary standards. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for personal growth. Growing as a human being both intellectually, emotionally and spiritually is extremely important. The tricky part is making sure you allow yourself to grow in a way that is authentic to you.
For most of my young life, I thought I wanted to be a hairstylist. Going to beauty school was my dream. So I went to beauty school, got my license and started working in a salon. Very quickly after, the superficial aspects of being in the beauty industry soon took it’s toll. Conversations around me were all skin deep. Being an introvert made this environment emotionally exhausting with the constant hustle and bustle and forced conversation. Eventually, I figured out it just wasn’t for me.

I was disappointed in myself for a long time. I felt an incredible amount of guilt for spending so much time learning how to do something and then not wanting to do it anymore. Soon after that, I realized how much happier and less exhausted I had become. I went back to school and was reunited with reading, one of my first loves. Not everyone can say they love to read and write and study for hours, but I do. It’s just who I am.
Goals are important, but be mindful of the happy distractions for those could be the very thing that lead you to living a life that is authentically you. When you let go of the standards, and idealisms of who you should be and just accept who you are, you become free to fly.

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Published by Lauren Kearney Writes

I am a writer and a lover of stories. I am fascinated by the process of the written word transforming into a beautiful imagery captured in one's mind that is unique to the individual reader or writer. Whether fantastical or mundane, a story can not come to life unless it is told to another. I want to share my stories, the happy, the heart breaking, the life changing, the real, the imagined and everything in between. It is a brave thing to really be seen by sharing your story. So dear reader share your story because we all have stories worth telling.
XO
Lauren
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